The Bank of Israel is giving Africa Israel Group bondholders good cause for worry: it's refusing to approve Africa Israel Properties' sale of the Ramat Aviv and Savyonim malls to Melisron.

Melisron is a real estate company controlled by the Ofer family. The central bank's concern is based on the Ofer family's holdings in Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot.

The Ofer family owns Melisron via Ofer Brothers Properties, which is owned by Yuli Ofer and his children, Liora and Doron (67%) and Eyal Ofer (33%), Yuli's nephew. Ofer Properties also owns 19.87% of Mizrahi-Tefahot, and shares the controlling stake in the bank.

This delay is bad news for Lev Leviev's Africa Israel, which was hoping to use the funds from the sale of its holdings in the malls (100% of Savyonim and 74% of Ramat Aviv) to refill its coffers and meet upcoming financial obligations.